• Tests & Worksheets
• Online Lessons
• Test Maker™
• Printable Games
• Worksheet Generator
• Plans & Pricing
• Blog

This year, HelpTeaching.com offered its first scholarship opportunity to students around the United States. Aspiring writers in high school and college were invited to submit an informational article or short story for kids. After reviewing hundreds of entries, the field was narrowed down to ten finalists. The pieces submitted by the finalists deal with topics ranging from fitting in and learning life lessons to understanding where money comes from. Read on to discover more about the finalists.

#10: You Are What You Eat by Emma Granger

This poem, written by Emma Granger, a student at the University of Manitoba, introduces kids to the important components of food and how they work in their bodies. Kids will learn the difference between fats, lipids, proteins, among others and discover why they truly are what they eat. We chose this poem as a finalist because it offers a unique and engaging format and also contains a lot of information for kids. Read the Full Story»

#9: A Trip to Planet Brain: Journey to the Lobes by Kendall Nicely

Kendall Nicely, who will be attending Sweet Briar College in the fall, introduces kids to the parts of the brain through her short informational article. Kids can learn about each of the four lobes of the brain and, through the questions, identify key characteristics of those lobes. We chose this piece as a finalist because the information is presented in a kid-friendly, easy-to-follow format. Read the Full Story»

#8: What Makes a Genius? by Natalie Boubion

Have you ever wondered what makes a genius? Natalie Boubion, a student at UC Davis, answers the question in her short, informational article. People like Leonardo Da Vinci and Albert Einstein are considered geniuses, but how did they earn that title. We chose this article as a finalist because it presents a thoughtful discussion related to an interesting question. Read the Full Story»

#7: Money Supply: Its Creation and Destruction by Kaitlynn Gov

Another UC Davis student, Kaitlynn Gov, helps kids understand Money Supply through her short informational article. Not only can kids learn where money comes from, but they can gain an understanding of the importance of the money supply. We chose this article as a finalist because, in addition to the helpful information, the article contains key vocabulary words related to the economy. Those words are written in bold throughout the article and included in a word bank at the end of the article. Read the Full Story»

#6: A Tiger’s Life by Shae Sager

Shae Sager, a junior at Montana State University – Bozeman, wrote a short story written from the point of view of a tiger at two key stages in its life. Kids can read about the playful tiger cub, and then see how the tiger has changed by the end of this life. We chose this story as a finalist because of its unique perspective and the fact that it can be used as a lesson in comparison and contrast. Read the Full Story»

#5: Rainy Dog Saturday by Erin Conlon

Erin Conlon is a student at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Animation. Her story, Rainy Dog Saturday, tells the story of an eight-year-old boy who cannot find anything fun to do on a rainy day. However, when he hears a sound at the door, his day starts to become a little more interesting. We chose this story as a finalist because it is a cute story for kids that offers an element of surprise. Read the Full Story»

#4: The Great Flower Competition by Ella Commerce

Ella Commerce recently graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, California, and will be attending California Polytechnic Institute in the Fall. Her short story, The Great Flower Competition, tells the story of two brothers whose father issues them a challenge. The boy who can present him with the most flowers at the end of a month will win the competition. We chose this story as a finalist because it helps kids learn an important lesson. Read the Full Story»

#3: Why Wolves Howl at the Moon by Emily Edmonds

Why Wolves Howl at the Moon is a short story by Emily Edmonds, a student a North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina. In this story, Mama Wolf shares with her wolf cubs the story of why wolves howl at the moon. We chose this story as a finalist because it has the feel of a classic myth and tells a tale that many kids will find interesting. Read the Full Story»

#2: Little Lost Fish by Gina Gugliotta

Gina Gugliotta is a Health Sciences student at The Ohio State University. Her work as a swim instructor inspired her to write a poem to help children remember to stay safe around a pool. We chose this poem as a finalist because of its rhyme scheme and the creative way it teaches an important lesson to kids. Read the Full Story»

And the winner of the first HelpTeaching.com scholarship is…

#1 WINNER!: Little Elephant Tries to Fit In by Christine McLauchlan

Little Elephant Tries to Fit In, written by Christine McLauchlan, an Early Education major at New Brunswick Community College. tells the story of an elephant who has just moved to a new town and is facing his first day at a new school. We chose this story as the winner of the HelpTeaching.com scholarship competition because it deals with emotions that many kids can relate to and it helps kids understand that it’s okay to be different. Aside from the lessons the story teaches, we feel like Little Elephant Tries to Fit In is a cute story that will make a fun read-aloud in the classroom. Read the Full Story»

In addition to these passages from our scholarship finalists, check out the other informational stories and reading passages we have to offer.

Think you have a great story for the HelpTeaching.com scholarship contest or know students who like to participate? Help spread the word about this scholarship by posting the information and a link to our scholarship page on your school or organization’s website.

If you’ve ever worked in a school, you know who’s responsible for keeping everything together. Hint: It’s not the principal. It’s the school secretary. A good secretary has the ability to keep a school running smoothly. From ensuring the copier is always working to checking up on kids who are absent from school, the school secretary plays a very important role in a school community. In honor of Administrative Professionals’ Day, we’ve come up with 66 reasons to thank your school secretary. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a holiday for you to tell your school secretaries how much they mean to your school.

1. The school secretary is often the first person to greet visitors to the school.

2. The school secretary fields phone calls from upset parents.

3. The school secretary has the ability to keep upset parents from visiting your classroom.

4. The school secretary knows how to find an accurate phone number for nearly every student.

5. The school secretary helps manage meeting and conference schedules, which can often be confusing.

6. The school secretary knows when a student is absent and if a student has been absent a lot of days.

7. The school secretary can make last-minute copies for you, even if you’ve exceeded your monthly quota.

8. The school secretary can get the custodian to your classroom in an instant, even though the custodian has been avoiding you for hours.

9. The school secretary knows all of the juicy gossip.

10. The school secretary knows and can easily access nearly any form you need to fill out.

11. The school secretary gives students a talking-to while they wait for the principal.

12. The school secretary often gets paid much less than the value she provides to the school.

13. The school secretary often has to work during the summer (and during some school breaks).

14. The school secretary helps make sure every student has a schedule at the beginning of the year.

15. The school secretary makes sure the crossing guard and flag raisers get their job done every day.

16. The school secretary makes sure buses arrive on time and finds out where buses are when they’re late.

17. The school secretary makes sure announcements are delivered at the proper time.

18. The school secretary helps control the fire alarms and announcements during safety drills.

19. The school secretary serves as the PR firm for the entire school.

20. The school secretary comforts kids who are sick, feeling sad, or just having a rough day.

21. The school secretary listens to teachers who just need to vent.

22. The school secretary often puts together and sends out the school newsletter.

23. The school secretary helps ensure a smooth transition for students transferring into the school.

24. The school secretary can answer nearly any question about the school that people call to ask.

25. The school secretary can tell you where your elusive principal is at nearly any given moment.

26. The school secretary knows who’s a walker, bus rider, or going to after-school care.

27. The school secretary takes important messages all day long and knows which ones to mark “urgent.”

28. The school secretary has to listen to the ringing of the phone all day long.

29. The school secretary often has to eat lunch while sitting at her command post.

30. The school secretary is a master multi-tasker.

31. The school secretary makes sure the copier is always working, whether she fixes it herself or calls the repairman.

32. The school secretary has the ability to magically find the supplies you forgot to bring for your classroom.

33. The school secretary keeps the school calendar updated and lets everyone know of any changes.

34. The school secretary schedules substitutes when teachers call in sick or need a day off (and can often get the sub you really want).

35. The school secretary makes sure the vending machines in the teachers’ lounge are working and well-stocked.

36. The school secretary signs for important packages, such as approved grant applications.

37. The school secretary fills teacher mailboxes with important mail and announcements.

38. The school secretary serves as an in-school communication system, passing messages between teachers.

39. The school secretary serves as an in-school postmaster, putting stamps on letters and making sure they get out in the mail.

40. The school secretary often sends around a card or organizes a group gift for birthdays, funerals, and other life events.

41. The school secretary often spends the entire day in the office, rarely getting to move around.

42. The school secretary has access to tons of data on students and teachers and manages to keep it all confidential.

43. The school secretary has the ability to ward off bill collectors and sales people when they call looking for teachers.

44. The school secretary often serves as a mediator in conflicts between staff members.

45. The school secretary is in charge of ordering key supplies for the school.

46. The school secretary often has a stressful, hectic day and still manages to keep a smile on her face.

47. The school secretary helps students get instruments, lunch boxes, and other items their parents drop off because they left them at home.

48. The school secretary knows where every student is supposed to be at a given moment.

49. The school secretary has the ability to determine whether a student really needs to call home or is just trying to get out of class.

50. The school secretary writes late passes for students.

51. The school secretary often serves as the first point of contact during an emergency.

52. The school secretary makes sure all visitors sign in and are issued visitor passes.

53. The school secretary knows when to call 9-1-1 during an emergency.

54. The school secretary is usually one of the first to arrive in the morning and one of the last to leave at night.

55. The school secretary is often responsible for making sure students get medication when the nurse is out.

56. The school secretary helps arrange field trips.

57. The school secretary can often find a lost pair of sneakers or discover which student stole something from a backpack.

58. The school secretary knows how to use Power School or whatever new system the district adopts.

59. The school secretary helps coordinate room assignments for teachers before the school year starts.

60. The school secretary keeps meticulous files of all important paperwork and other key information.

61. The school secretary often helps handle many of the school’s financial accounts.

62. The school secretary helps compile the endless reports and sets of data requested by the district office.

63. The school secretary helps get your money back from the vending machine when it malfunctions.

64. The school secretary helps organize and distribute items related to school fundraisers.

65. The school secretary makes sure everyone gets his/her picture taken on picture day and distributes the pictures when they come in.

66. The school secretary makes everything she does look like a piece of cake.

Do you have more reasons to add to the list? Share why you love your school secretary in the comments.

Every year, people make New Year’s Resolutions and every year they fail to keep them. The most popular resolution every year is to lose weight, but some of the other top resolutions may surprise you. Regardless of what resolutions are going to top this year’s list, you only need to make one – resolve to better yourself. How are you going to do that? We’ve got you covered with a few skills that will lead to a better you this new year.

Handle Your Stress

Now that the craziness of the holidays has died down, it’s time to get back into your normal everyday routines. For high school students, this often means prepping for finals. For others, it means dealing with the stresses that come with work and other daily activities. Rather than letting stressful moments get the best of you this year, take some time to learn to handle your stress.

What are some ways to keep stress from getting the best of you?

• The American Heart Association recommends using positive self-talk as its number one tip for handling stress.
• The American Psychological Association encourages you to take a break from the stressor.
• The Anxiety and Depression Association of America suggests taking a timeout by doing yoga or listening to music and notes the importance of eating healthy, balanced meals.

Of course, if none of those strategies work, you can also spend some time popping virtual bubble wrap as a way of calming yourself down. When you learn how to handle your stress you’ll be more productive, healthier, and better able to interact with others.

Value Your Time

People have been saying “if only there were more hours in the day” for centuries. Despite that fact, there are still only 24 hours in a day and you determine how to fill them. This year, start valuing your time by learning how to manage it and making sure you’re devoting your time to things that are important.

Think it’s impossible to create some order in your crazy schedule? Try a few of these tips:

• Make a to-do list every day so you know what’s on your plate. Use a piece of paper, the notepad on your phone, or even a fancy online tool such as Remember the Milk.
• Assess your time to see where you’re spending the most time and then prioritize your activities to make sure you’re spending time on what matters.
• Learn how to say no so that you can avoid taking on too much and focus on what’s most important.

As you learn to value your time, you’ll find that your stress levels will also decrease and that you enjoy what you do much more.

Care for Others

When you’re feeling down or stressed, one of the best things you can do is go care for someone else. Not only do you get to help someone out, but you also take the focus off of yourself and your problems. Caring for others involves more than just helping people out though. It also involves developing empathy, or the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and begin to understand their perspective. You can do this by…

• Volunteering for a local charity
• Learning how to be an active listener
• Practicing the Six Habits of Highly Empathic People

When you develop empathy and learn to care for others, you will find yourself better able to deal with others, thereby potentially reducing stress. You’ll also discover some valuable ways to spend your time, making your busy days a little more meaningful.

Take Care of Yourself

People who think about themselves all the time are often thought of as self-centered and shallow. While you can focus on yourself too much, you can also focus on yourself too little. As you learn to care for others, you also need to learn to take care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself you can become stressed out and experience other negative emotions. You can also experience health problems, both as a result of those negative emotions and as a result of not treating your body the way you should.

Thankfully, we have a few simple ways to take care of yourself:

• Eat balanced meals and exercise regularly
• Get plenty of sleep every night
• Learn how to relax

When you start to take care of yourself, the other parts of your life start to fall into balance too.

Educate Yourself

Knowledge is the solution to many problems. It can help you build empathy as you learn more about others. It can help you manage your time as you learn ways to complete tasks in a timelier manner. It can also reduce your stress by helping you build new skills to help you advance in your career, do better in school, or allow you to take on activities that you enjoy.

Educating yourself doesn’t have to involve enrolling in an expensive course. A few easy ways to educate yourself include:

• Learning to ask effective questions
• Taking free online courses from top universities
• Being willing to fail and learning from failure

The more you learn, the more confident you’ll feel about yourself and your abilities and our Top 100 Free Education Sites is a great place to start.

How are you going to better yourself this new year? Share your resolutions in the comments or provide some other tips to help others manage their stress, value their time, care for others, take care of themselves, and educate themselves this year.

In 2016, Help Teaching, once again, shared blog posts about a wide range of educational topics. We started the year off with our annual Top 100 Free Education Sites. In September, we updated our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science. Throughout the rest of the year, we shared posts related to social studies, language arts, and general education. We even included some test-taking and teaching strategies. To round out the year, we’d like to take a moment to highlight some of the posts HelpTeaching users found most useful. You might discover a few you missed or a few you want to share with friends.

#1 25 Ways to Show Kids You Care About Them

At the end of the day, kids just want to know you care about them. We’ve come up with 25 ways to help you make that happen. Everything on the list can be done right away, without a lot of thought or planning. Watch for more posts in 2017 to help you develop a better relationship with your children and your students.

#2 Guide to Quality Screen Time for Babies, Children, and Teens

When it comes to technology, it’s important to pay attention to what type of content and how much content your children are consuming. We break down what you need to know about the AAP’s guidelines for screen time and provide you with some quality educational apps and video series you can feel safe letting your kids interact with.

#3 Everything Your Students Always Wanted to Know About Electing the President…

In the United States, 2016 will go down as the year of one of the most talked about elections in history. All of the attention around the election likely raised a lot of questions in students’ minds. For example, what is the electoral college? This post seeks to answer students’ most pressing questions about the presidential election. Now that the election is over, in 2017, we’ll bring you facts about the inauguration and more posts to help you understand U.S. and world history.

#4 Brain Breaks: Helping Students Refresh, Reset, and Get Moving

Do you use brain breaks in the classroom? Brain breaks are one of the latest trends to help improve student performance. They give students a chance to recharge so they can focus on learning. If you’ve never used brain breaks or are looking for new brain breaks strategies to use in your classroom, this post will help.

#5 How to Become a Champion Speller

Can you spell hippopotamus? How about ambidextrous? Using the strategies found in our post about becoming a champion speller, you can help your students improve their spelling skills. We include advice from pros and other tried and true spelling strategies.

#6 Why I Review With Students and How You Can Too

Review is an important component of the learning process. Without regular review, students are likely to forget the material they’ve learned throughout the year. We’ve listed some reasons to make review a part of your classroom routine, as well as strategies to use with students as they review. Don’t forget, you can find plenty of worksheets to use for review on our site.

#7 10 Ways to Help Students Avoid Procrastination

Some students love to procrastinate. However, procrastination rarely leads to a quality learning experience. Use these tips to help your students learn to manage their time and avoid the pitfalls that come with procrastination.

#8 Social Studies Reading List

If you’re looking for quality social studies texts to use with students, check out our social studies reading list. The texts on the list are designed to spark students’ interest in social studies and help them learn the basics before heading into class.

#9 10 More Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week

In 2015, we brought you 10 Fun Facts for Geography Awareness Week and in 2016 we brought you even more. Did you know that the wettest city in the United States is Mobile, Alabama or that China shares its border with 16 nations? Find these facts and more in our post.

#10 Science Activities You Will Want to do with your Kids

Science can be a lot of fun. Instead of letting your kids have all the fun, why not enjoy some activities with them? We’ve come up with a list of experiments and other science activities that you can do with your kids. When you’re finished with the activities on this list, check out our Ultimate Guide to Teaching Science for even more fun science activities and resources.

Stay tuned to Help Teaching’s website and blog in 2017 for even more quality content to help you both in the classroom and at home. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see us cover? Share it in the comments. Who knows? It may become the next topic featured on our blog.

In October 2016, Microsoft released the long-awaited Minecraft: Education Edition, making it easier for teachers to bring Minecraft into the classroom. However, you don’t need a computer or even Minecraft software to make Minecraft an integral part of your classroom. We’ve come up with some great ways to help you engage your Minecraft-loving students offline too.

Develop a How-To Guide
For students it’s often easy to play a game and much harder to show someone else how to play again. Get students to stop and think about what it takes to play Minecraft. Then have them hone their expository writing skills by developing a how-to guide or video to help other students learn how to play the game. You can have students create a brochure outlining Minecraft’s key features or create a video focused on a more specific element of the game, such as how to make a hidden doorway in a staircase.

Create a List of Rules
Before setting students free to explore the world of Minecraft, teachers often lay out a list of rules students should follow while in the game, such as not destroying others’ structures. Once students have interacted with Minecraft a bit on their own, have them come up with their own list of rules for the online community. Rules can be serious, such as using kind words, or silly, such as banning all purple structures. Developing rules will help students learn about concepts related to citizenship and developing a healthy community.

Write a Minecraft-themed Story
A quick internet search will result in a ton of Minecraft stories written by authors hoping to capitalize on Minecraft’s fame. Chances are your students know more about Minecraft than many of those authors. Put their knowledge of the game to the test by having them write stories centered around their own Minecraft worlds. If they need help getting started, check out some of our own Minecraft-themed story starters to help spur the creative writing process.

Learn Minecraft Vocabulary
Minecraft has its own set of terminology and skills. See how much your student know by pulling out Minecraft-related words and using them as part of a spelling or vocabulary test. You can also download and print our Minecraft-themed Word Search and Bingo games to introduce students to some key Minecraft vocabulary words.

Build Minecraft-inspired Structures
When students play Minecraft, they’re immersed in a pixelated world. Everything is designed using cubes, which means creating objects with triangular or rounded edges is a bit more challenging. You can explore the same concept by having challenging students to build 3D sculptures outside of the game. Sugar cubes and square blocks make great building tools.

Design Paper Plans
Before creating in Minecraft, students can also create paper blueprints of the worlds they plan to create. Using some basic graph paper, kids can shade in different grids to represent the elements of the landscape. Then they can try to recreate their drawings within the game.

Study Perimeter, Area, and Volume
The pixelated world of Minecraft offers a great way to help students learn about perimeter, area, and volume. Using their paper plans, sculptures, or groups of blocks, have students determine the perimeter and area of a structure. They can do it easily by measuring the side of one block, and then counting the number of blocks that make up the length and width of the structure. They’ll also build their multiplication skills at the same time.

Solve Minecraft-themed Word Problems
Help build students’ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills through the creation of some basic Minecraft word problems. For example, how many apples does a character need or how many ink sacs and bone metal are needed to make enough gray dye? We have a few Minecraft-themed word problems to get kids started.

Create Minecraft-inspired Mosaics
Cut construction paper into squares or pick up a bag of tissue paper squares at the craft store. Glue the squares onto a piece of white construction paper to create different Minecraft-inspired mosaics. For example, students could design self-portraits or glue the squares onto a box to create full-size Minecraft-inspired versions of their heads.

Design a Color by Number Worksheet
Similar to Minecraft-inspired mosaic, design a color by number worksheet for students to complete. Have students color every square with a particular number, letter, or word a certain color. Once all the squares have been colored correctly, students will have a fun picture. You can also challenge students to create their own color by number worksheets using graph paper. Then they can give them to a classmate to solve. We’ve created a few color by number worksheets to get you started: Color by Number Parts of Speech and Color by Number Addition and Subtraction.

All of these activities incorporate the principles and ideas of Minecraft without requiring students to play the actual game. Whether you already use Minecraft in the classroom or just have students who enjoy the game, you can use these activities to help engage students throughout the school year.

Do you have any fun Minecraft-inspired resources that you use in the classroom? If so, we’d love to know about them. Share them in the comments!

This summer, while you were on vacation, spending time with your kids, and prepping for the new school year, our content creators at HelpTeaching.com were busy creating exciting new resources in all of the major subject areas. Our new offerings range from NGSS-aligned reading passages for grades K-2 to self-paced math and science lessons for higher grades. Read on to discover some of the new features on our site.

English/Language Arts

Grade-Level Spelling Lists

We’ve added grade-level spelling lists from grades K-5. Each grade features 30 individual spelling lists with 10 words each (5 words each for kindergarten). The lists were compiled using Dolch sight words, Fry words, Tier II words, and Marzano’s subject-area words for each grade-level. Each list is accompanied by a word search and 1-2 additional worksheets.

Writing Prompts and Worksheets

Our writing page has been expanded to include writing prompts for all grade-levels through grades K-12. Prompts are organized by grade-level (grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12) and type of essay (opinion/persuasive, informative/explanatory, and narrative).

Also, on the writing page, you’ll find weekly writing worksheets for grades K-2 and grades 3-5. Each worksheet features 5 short writing prompts related to a common theme (for example, students may write about the town they live in) for the week. You can use these prompts as bell ringers, short journal prompts, or homework assignments to encourage students to write every day.

For something a little more fun, you can also check out our collection of “Would You Rather?” prompts for students. These prompts feature funny scenarios that encourage students spark discussion, inspire creative thinking, and give students something fun to write about about. Some questions include:

• Would you rather only eat pizza for the rest of your life or never eat pizza again?
• Would you rather wear socks without shoes or wear swim flippers everywhere?
• Would you rather use an old-fashioned phone or never talk on the phone again?

Prefix and Suffix Lessons

On our vocabulary page, you’ll find worksheets that cover the most-common prefixes and suffixes in the English language. You can also find short self-paced lessons related to each of the worksheets.

New Grammar Resources

If you’re looking for ways to help students boost their grammar skills, look no further than our daily grammar worksheets. These worksheets are designed to help students in upper-elementary and middle school learn to identify and correct common errors related to grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Worksheets are labeled by passage topic. You’ll find worksheets about celebrities, historical events, sports, and other high-interest topics. For example, check out this daily grammar activity related to the former capital of the U.S.

We’ve also re-organized our grammar page by part of speech and skill to make it easier to find the content that you need. Worksheets are also organized by grade-level within each part of speech or skill.

NGSS-Aligned Reading Passages

Our ELA and science areas have come together to develop NGSS-aligned reading passages. This summer, we added a set of kindergarten reading passages and questions. Teachers can read these passages aloud in the classroom and ask students the questions or send them home with students to help reinforce NGSS content outside of the classroom. Keep watching our site throughout the fall and winter for NGSS passages for other grade-levels.

Coming Soon!

The work started on our ELA content this summer is far from over. Stay-tuned this fall and winter as we add:

• Research worksheets
• More daily grammar worksheets
• Phonics worksheets
• Self-paced writing lessons
• Worksheets related to popular books

Math

Self-Paced Math Lessons

We’ve grown our library of high school algebra lessons this summer! Each lesson includes a topic overview, Help Teaching original video lesson, and practice questions. Use these self-paced, online lessons with your classroom math curriculum or supplement your child’s math instruction at home. With Test Room, assigning lessons and tracking student progress couldn’t be easier! Get started with our new lessons on Solving for Variables or Polynomials 101.

Daily Math Practice Worksheets

Supplement your lower elementary curriculum and reinforce essential math skills with our new daily math practice worksheets. Each week features a two-page worksheet designed for front-to-back printing while providing space for student work. Use the four days of math problems for morning work or weeknight homework. Separate fifth day quizzes are included for optional progress monitoring. Worksheets are Common Core aligned and offer spiral review of previously covered standards. Try Week 1 for kindergarten or grade 1 and check our elementary math page frequently as more weeks are coming this fall!

Science

Self-Paced Science Lessons

New physics and chemistry video lessons are here! We have updated many of our high school science lessons with Help Teaching original videos and added entirely new lessons. Whether you are a teacher looking for high-quality content to supplement your science instruction or a high school student looking to learn more on a topic, our self-directed lessons can help. Check out our lessons on Kinetic Molecular Theory and Resistance and Ohm’s Law as a starting point, then visit our science lesson page for more!

NGSS-Aligned Content

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide a progression of crosscutting concepts, practices, and core ideas for today’s science students. Here at Help Teaching, we have begun adding NGSS aligned content including lessons, worksheets, and assessment questions. If you are looking to supplement your science curriculum with NGSS aligned content, then check our lessons, including:  Why Does the Sun Look So Bright?, Introduction to Biogeology, and Wave Speed. NGSS worksheets like Sorting Materials By Properties,  Push and Pull Reading Passage, and Earth Event Timescales are noted with (NGSS) in their link names and standard alignment is provided. Search for NGSS questions to see all content available and to create your own custom assessments. Look for more new NGSS content at HelpTeaching.com during the upcoming school year!

Subscribe to the Help Teaching newsletter on our homepage to stay up-to-date with all new lessons, worksheets, articles, and features. Be sure to use our seasons worksheets for back-to-school and fall to help kickoff this new school year!

Every four years, athletes from around the world gather to compete in the Summer Olympic Games. While the athletes are competing to win gold, the games give kids a chance to learn more about the events the athletes are competing in, as well as the part of the world where the games are held. This year, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games are being held in Rio de Janeiro, the second most populous municipality in Brazil. Despite the controversy surrounding the games and their location, there are a lot of reasons to get excited. We’ve rounded up some fun facts about the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to help get kids excited too.

1. Rio de Janeiro is the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. For a fun geography activity, look up the locations of previous Olympic games and mark them on a world map.

2. Over 10,000 athletes will compete in the games. The U.S. will bring over 500 of those athletes, which you can learn about on Team USA’s website.

3. It will cost Rio de Janeiro over $9.5 billion to host the Summer Olympic games.

4. Golf will be played at the 2016 Olympics. The sport has not been part of the Summer Games for over 100 years.

5. In many countries, the competition just to make the Olympic team was tough. Queen Harrison, a hurdler, missed qualifying for the U.S. team by two one-hundredths of a second.

6. Over 45% of the athletes in Rio will be female. That’s a higher percentage of females than ever before.

7. Dipa Karmakar will compete as the first Indian female gymnast in 52 years to qualify for the Olympic games.

8. Yusra Mardini, an 18-year-old swimmer, will compete under the Olympic flag as part of the first team of refugee athletes.

9. Leila, Liina, and Lily Luik will be the first set of triplets to compete in the same Olympic sport. They are marathon runners from Estonia.

10. Simone Biles, the most decorated female gymnast in history, is the shortest member of Team USA at 4’8″ tall.

11. To prepare for the Olympics, workers in Rio de Janeiro built 43 miles of new roads and planted thousands of trees.

12. Canadian horse-jumper, Ian Miller, will compete in his 11th Olympic Games. He’s 69 years old.

13. Michael Phelps, the most-decorated Olympian of all time, will attempt to increase his medal count at the 2016 Games. He currently has 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them gold.

14. The country of Kosovo will compete in its first Olympics this year, sending eight athletes to the Games.

15. Nino Salukvadze and Tsotne Machavariani, shooters from the country of Georgia, are the first mother-son duo to compete at the Games.

16. Singer Katy Perry released her first single in two years, a song called “Rise,” which will be used as an anthem for the Olympic Games.

Want to learn more about the Olympics? Work with your kids to complete our Summer Olympics Scavenger Hunt or one of our other Olympics-themed worksheets found on our seasonal worksheets page.

Whether you’re looking for a part-time job or a full-time position, you know there’s one thing you need to help you make it past the first cut – a stand-out resume. Even fast food restaurants have begun to request resumes for part-time positions. No matter the job you’re applying for, a resume is a way for you to make a good first impression. Even a tiny mistake could cost you the job. Whether you’re writing your first resume or looking to spruce up an existing resume, we’ve come up with some tips to help yours represent you well.

1. Keep it Short

Potential employers don’t have time to read through tons of lengthy resumes. Keep your resume to one or two pages. If it is two pages, print your resume on a double-sided piece of paper rather than stapling it together. Keeping your resume short means you may have to remove that detail about being president of the drama club in high school or highlight only your most relevant job experience. It doesn’t mean that you should decrease the font size so you can fit everything. A potential employer shouldn’t need a magnifying glass to read your resume.

2. Make it Skimmable

Many employers aren’t going to read every single word you include in your resume. Instead, they’ll skim your resume for relevant information. Use headers to highlight each section and put the most relevant sections near the top. Most resumes will start with an objective and move straight into job history. However, if you’re applying for a job that values education or volunteer experience more than job history, put those sections first. Within each section, use bullet points rather than paragraphs to add pertinent information. If your resume is more than one page, the most important information should all appear on page one.

3. Customize your Resume

While it may not be practical to create a new resume for each position you apply for, you should make sure your resume fits the job you want. You may want to have a few versions of your resume to fit different positions. For example, you may have one resume for part-time employment in a retail or fast-food establishment and another resume for managerial positions.

4. Use Action Words

Fill your resume with action words. Instead of saying “was responsible for” or “worked to provide,” start your main points with verbs that show an action. For example, “Developed a 30-second commercial that aired on 10 networks” or “Compiled a 20-page research report.”

5. Incorporate Buzzwords

If you’re applying for a job in a particular industry, try to incorporate buzzwords into your resume. For example, instead of saying “rang up customers at the register,” you might say, “skilled at using a POS system.” Make sure you know what the buzzwords mean and that you use them correctly. Otherwise, your resume won’t be taken seriously.

6. Include Specific Details

Rather than saying things like “managed funds” or “headed a team,” try to include specific details. For example, “managed a $10,000 account with 100% customer satisfaction” or “headed a team of 25 people and improved productivity by 20%.” These small details provide a clearer picture of what you actually did.

7. Highlight Your Accomplishments

When you’re describing your position at a past company, think beyond your job description and focus more on what you accomplished in the position. What did that company lose when you left? For example, were you just someone who filed papers or someone who improved office efficiency and organization?

8. Add Awards and Accolades

You don’t need to include every award you won in high school or college, but if there are awards you’ve won that are relevant to the job position, include them on your resume. For example, if you were named Miss Congeniality, you may want to include that on a resume for a customer service position. You can also include awards for volunteer service or honors such as becoming an Eagle Scout.

9. Tell the Truth

This point shouldn’t have to be made, but many people embellish the truth on their resumes. Potential employers can often see through those embellishments. If they can’t and you land an interview, any lies you told on your resume are likely to come out very quickly. If they do, you can guarantee you won’t get the job. It’s okay to make yourself look good, but don’t do it at the expense of being truthful.

10. Leave Off Negative Experiences

There’s no rule that says you have to include every job you’ve ever held or every experience you’ve ever completed on your resume. If you have a job you’d like to forget or a degree you didn’t finish, then leave it off. Your resume is designed to highlight your best self, so it pays to be selective in what you choose to include. By the same token, if a job you held isn’t relevant to the position you’re seeking, don’t include it. The only exception is if you don’t have any other job history.

11. Include Unique Details

If you have room, you can use space on your resume to include a little more about your interests and hobbies. The more quirky those interests and hobbies, the more likely you are to gain someone’s attention. For example, instead of “listening to music” as a hobby, you may want to say you’re a “connoisseur of modern hip-hop.” As with everything, make sure the interests and hobbies will not turn off a potential employer in your field. You should also be sure not to include anything illegal or in poor taste on your resume. For example, “attending frat parties” is not an interest that will impress a potential employer, although something like “participating in service activities with Sigma Chi” might.

12. Double-Check Your Contact Information

If a potential employer likes your resume and wants to contact you for an interview, they’ll look for a phone number or e-mail address. If even one number or letter is incorrect, you could miss the opportunity. Verify all of your personal information, from the spelling of your name to the area code in your phone number, to make sure the employer can reach you to request an interview.

13. Look for Typos and Grammatical Mistakes

Employers want to see a resume that is free from errors. Read over your resume multiple times to look for errors. Try reading it aloud to catch even more errors. Then ask a couple friends or family members to look over your resume too. The more eyes you have look at your resume, the more likely you are to catch any errors hiding within.

14. Tighten it Up

Once you’ve been over your resume, look for ways to tighten it up. For example, did you write in full sentences? Remove words like I, we, am, was, and that. Instead, use short, focused statements to get your point across. Make sure you weren’t redundant too. Instead of saying something multiple times, say it powerfully the first time.

15. Make it Clean

When you give your resume to a potential employer, you want it to look nice. If the ink is smeared or words run together, it’s likely to fall to the bottom of the stack. Print your resume on high-quality paper and make sure it’s free from wrinkles and other negative issues before handing it to an employer. Buy a nice folder to carry your resume in when you go to drop it off to an employer and give your resume a recognizable file name if you’re e-mailing it. Instead of resume.doc try LastNameFirstInitialResume.doc.

16. Align it with Online Profiles

Take some time to align your resume with your online profiles. Your LinkedIn profile or profile on another job search or networking site should not be an exact copy of your resume. Instead, consider your resume the overview and those sites as an opportunity to enhance your resume by adding more specific or colorful details and experience. An employer who looks up your LinkedIn profile after reading your resume will want to see something different in the hope of learning more about you. At the same time, your online profiles should not contradict any of the information on your resume.

Need some help writing your resume? Check out Help Teaching’s resume writing worksheets found in the Life Skills section of our website.

Every year, the nation’s best junior spellers descend upon Washington D.C. They come to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee where they spell words like scherenschnitte and nunatak (2015’s winning words).  While not all kids will become national spelling bee champions, they can become better spellers. Follow these tips to help kids learn how to spell hundreds, if not thousands, of common words (like hippopotamus).

Read the Dictionary

In the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, one of the contestants sings a song about how much she loves her dictionary. While most kids won’t have the same fondness for their own dictionaries, they should take some time to familiarize themselves with the dictionary and learn the words it contains. For children in elementary and middle school, consider purchasing one of Merriam Webster’s Elementary or Intermediate dictionaries so they can find words that are more appropriate for their level.

Reading through the dictionary may seem boring, but it doesn’t have to be. Make it fun by playing one of these games:

– Race to see who can be the first to find and define a word
– Try to find a word that no one has heard of before
– Make up a fake definition for a word and have someone guess which definition is real.

Learn Common Spelling Rules

You’ve probably seen some version of the poem above before. The English language is definitely very confusing and doesn’t always seem to follow the rules. However, there are some spelling rules that kids can learn. A few good rules to learn include:

1. i before e, except after a long c like in receive or in words like neighbor or weigh
2. When adding -ing, -ed, -est, and other suffixes, double the consonant when the word features a vowel + consonant at the end or when the last syllable is stressed. For example, hop becomes hopping and regret becomes regretted.
3. Drop the final e when adding a vowel suffix to a word, unless the word ends with ce or ge. For example, write becomes writing and manage becomes manageable.
4. The letter y, when preceded by a consonant, becomes i when a suffix is added. For example, happy becomes happiness.
5. Silent e helps a vowel say its name. If a vowel sound is long, it often has a silent e at the end. For example, you can see the difference in rat versus rate and hop versus hope.

Learn Frequently Confused Words

Do you know the difference between principal and principle? How about their, there, and they’re? These words frequently trip spellers up. Learning the difference between them and practicing using them correctly can help kids improve their spelling skills. Help Teaching’s Vocabulary page is full of printable worksheets designed to help kids learn the difference between these confusing words.

Learn Common Prefixes, Suffixes, and Word Roots

Take a look at the word antidisestablishmentarianism. This word is often considered one of the longest words in the English language and, upon first glance, it seems impossible to spell. However, if you break it up, you’ll realize it’s composed of many different roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Being able to recognize these word parts can be the key to becoming a good speller and figuring out the meaning of confusing words. So instead of having hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, kids can embrace those monstrously monosyllabic words and spell them with ease. Help Teaching’s online lessons portal features many lessons to teach kids about the basic prefixes and suffixes.

Visualize Words

Have you ever written a word and said, “That doesn’t look right?” Good spellers tap into the visual sides of their brains to help them learn to spell. For little kids, that may mean using a program like Word World or Bembo’s Zoo to help them visualize the words. For older kids, it may involve writing the words multiple times or breaking the words into chunks. For example, they may see the word conscience as con-science. You may also come up with funny images, such as a picture of a wig (hair) on a chair to remind kids that words are spelled in similar ways.

Read… A LOT!

When kids read, they often see words spelled correctly. The more they see a word spelled correctly, the easier it is for them to remember how to spell it on their own. So, encourage kids to read, read, read. Keep in mind, however, that some books for kids, such as the Captain Underpants series, intentionally misspell words. If you see that words are misspelled, point them out to kids and encourage them to look up the correct spellings as a learning activity.

Use Mnemonic Devices

Mnemonic devices such as Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally and Never Eat Soggy Waffles are great for helping kids remember key math and geography facts, but they can also be used for spelling. For example, kids may remember “pull apart to separate” or “there is a place just like here.” While it may not be practical to come up with a mnemonic device for every word, you can use these clever tricks to help kids remember particularly frustrating words.

Play Spelling Games

Games like Boggle and Scrabble are great ways to help kids improve their spelling skills. For a simple version of Boggle, print out a word scramble worksheet and have kids see how many words they can create. Word searches offer another way to help kids improve their spelling skills. Pick up a cheap word search book at your local dollar store or create your own using Help Teaching’s Word Search Generator.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The best way to become a better speller is to practice spelling. If there are particular words kids want to learn, encourage them to make flashcards and study them or to write a story using those words. You should also have kids write regularly and read what they write aloud. When they read through the paper, they may find that misspelled words are difficult to pronounce.

By following these steps, kids can vastly improve their spelling skills. Want to put your own spelling skills to the test? Try your hand at the same testcompetitors take during the preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Share your results and any additional spelling tips you have in the comments.

We are very excited to announce the release of a brand-new version of StudyLock, an educational application that helps parents manage how their children interact with their smart devices for which Help Teaching is the exclusive content provider.

StudyLock is an intelligent educational system from Big Mage Studio, a talented and experienced developer with a great talent for designing engaging apps that kids love, that locks selected apps and games on the children mobile devices and only gives access after they answer a series of educational questions specifically selected for their grade. The questions available through StudyLock are geared for children and teens in grades 3-10.

The questions kids and teens must answer to unlock their devices are all provided by Help Teaching’s content contributors. Our contributors have over 20 years of combined teaching experience and are committed to providing the highest quality of content for use by StudyLock™. It’s the same high-quality content you’ll find as part of Help Teaching’s premium printable worksheets and lessons. Questions are broken into five categories: math, history, science, language arts, and health. All math and language arts questions are aligned to the Common Core State Standards too, ensuring that the content is focused on the knowledge and skills kids need to know. Parents can also create custom questions that are specific to their child needs.

In addition to giving access to exclusive premium content from Help Teaching, StudyLock offers parents the ability to:

– Monitor app and game usage
– Remotely block access to particular apps and games
– Send on-screen messages/reminders
– Track a child’s progress in key subject areas

Through their partnership, StudyLock and Help Teaching provide parents with a comprehensive resource to monitor children and teens’ academic progress and provide them with tools to improve their skills. Parents can choose to have progress reports e-mailed to them and quickly see which standards their kids and teens need the most help with. Once parents determine where their kids need the most help, they can head over to Help Teaching to discover more resources to help them improve their skills.

The StudyLock app is free to download from Google Play or the Amazon app store and is supported by all Android devices – smartphones and tablets – running Android 4.1 or higher.

For more information about StudyLock, visit http://studylockapp.com/. If you would like to support StudyLock and its mission, you can do so via the StudyLock Kickstarter campaign.

ELA & Reading – Most Popular

STEM – Most Popular

Social Studies – Most Popular

Joe Pizzuto-Pomaco is an educator, writer, and editor who has taught in public and private schools 15 years.